1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of inputting a password from a touch panel in a computer system having the touch panel as an input device.
2. Description of Related Art
As security in a computer, there is a method by which a user is authorized to log in by a password. Power-on-password is a kind of this method. That is, a password is checked when the computer is switched on, and the operating system (hereinafter, OS) is booted only in the case where a correct password is inputted.
As this power-on-password is executed before startup of the OS, the process of checking a password is executed under the basic input/output system (BIOS). In this case, information inputted from the keyboard is processed by scan code rather than ASCII code (alphabet). Scan code is code data associated with the positions of the keys on a keyboard. That is, according to the position of the pressed (or released) key on the keyboard, a corresponding value is sent from the keyboard to the CPU.
Thus, while a user will memorize and input a password as a combination of alphabets and numbers, a check of a password by the BIOS is performed in a data row of scan code without reference to the alphabets and numbers.
This means that a password can be processed without reference to a kind of language the keyboard supports. That is, a keyboard has several types of key layout according to the kinds of language it supports. However, as a password is checked by a data row of scan code generated according to the positions of the pressed keys, it is not necessary to have enormous amounts of information on key layouts in the BIOS.
Incidentally, along with proliferation of the information processing environment using computers, there are apparatuses of various forms being developed today as terminals for inputting and outputting information. There are some among them that have, as an input device, a touch panel doubling as a display device together with a keyboard. It is desirable that, also in inputting a power-on-password on startup, these kinds of terminals are capable of inputting by the touch panel as well as the keyboard.
As a means to input a power-on-password from a touch panel, a method is thinkable, by which the same kind of keyboard as a built-in keyboard (hereinafter, referred to as on-screen keyboard) is displayed on the touch panel display screen and the input from this on-screen keyboard (touch panel) emulates key entry software-wise.
As mentioned above, however, users memorize a password as a combination of alphabets and numbers. Therefore, in case of inputting a password by using an on-screen keyboard, it is not sufficient for the on-screen keyboard to only indicate key positions but it is necessary to display key characters corresponding to the key layout of a built-in keyboard. Thus, information on the key layout is required in order to display the on-screen keyboard on the touch panel display screen.
Consequently, in the case where the computer as a product is manufactured for two or more languages, several types of products with different key layouts of a keyboard for corresponding languages will be manufactured. Therefore, several types of on-screen keyboards to be displayed on the touch panel will also be provided so as to correspond to a keyboard of the product.
In consideration of the manufacturing processes of computer products, however, it is not always possible, at the time of writing BIOS into a ROM, to determine the keyboard type of a computer product implementing the ROM.
Thus, means for determining the key layout of the on-screen keyboard is required after the ROM in which BIOS is written is implemented.
Moreover, as a method of determining a keyboard type, a method of electrically classifying keyboards from a mechanical viewpoint (position and form of a key switch and so on) is thinkable. However, as such classification has nothing to do with the key layout types according to languages, this kind of classification method cannot be used to determine key layouts of on-screen keyboards.
Accordingly, key layouts of keyboards cannot be determined by software based on the information (characteristics) that the computer product itself has, and interaction with users is required in order to obtain necessary information.
As a method of having a system recognize a keyboard type, there is conventionally a method of having a user select a keyboard on OS installation or startup. To be specific, it is a method of displaying a list of several keyboards and making a user select an applicable one thereof.
To determine a keyboard type by this method, however, a list of the entire keyboard types to which the computer product corresponds must be provided. In this case, the increased data amount due to the keyboard list cannot be ignored for BIOS of which code size is strictly limited.
Moreover, it is not desirable to make a user select an applicable keyboard from a keyboard list since it requires considerable knowledge and determination on the part of the user.
An object of the present invention is to allow a keyboard type required for generating an on-screen keyboard to be identified by a simple operation without requiring any knowledge and determination of keyboard types on the part of the user.
To attain the above object of the present invention, a computer system requiring input of a password on startup, is characterized by including: an on-screen keyboard display division for displaying an on-screen keyboard having a predetermined key layout on a display screen; a keyboard type determination division for determining the key layout of the on-screen keyboard displayed on the on-screen keyboard display division; and a password checking division for processing a password inputted by pointing to the on-screen keyboard displayed on this on-screen keyboard display division.
As an input device for inputting this password, a device for pointing this on-screen keyboard can be used. For instance, if a touch panel function is added to a display screen on which the on-screen keyboard is displayed, pointing can be performed by directly touching the keys of the on-screen keyboard on the display screen. Pointing may also be performed by using a general pointing device such as a mouse.
In this case, this keyboard type determination division is characterized by determining a type of the key layout of the keyboard mounted on the system, and rendering this key layout as the key layout of the on-screen keyboard displayed on the on-screen keyboard display division.
This method of determining the key layout of the keyboard is, to be more specific, characterized by prompting a user to press a predetermined key placed in a position unique to the key layout of the keyboard mounted on the system, and determining the type of the key layout of the keyboard based on the position of the pressed key.